


in the parting of our ways (may it never happen anyway)

by vindice



Series: I'm half doomed and you're semi-sweet [6]
Category: One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 13:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19870066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindice/pseuds/vindice
Summary: Ryou understands Bakura’s position. That doesn’t mean he has to like it.





	in the parting of our ways (may it never happen anyway)

**Author's Note:**

> I swapped the D Brothers (ASL, perhaps) and the Bakuras. I spared some but had to make others suffer. At least nobody died.
> 
> Now. It’s 4:40. _I’m going to sleep._

“Hold on tight,” Ryou warns, jumping out the platform right before pandemonium breaks out.

The arms around his waist tighten obediently, and he can’t even enjoy the incredulous, marvelous laughter thrilling near his ear because he’s too busy trying to get them out of the Marines range as fast as he can.

A blur of blue zooms past them and he breathes out a sigh of relief just as one of Kizaru’s laser beams, undoubtedly intended for them, jerks abruptly in the other direction.

Ryou is perpetually grateful for Marco and their family.

Three days. Three sea forsaken days of him across the Grand Line was all it took before something went foul, and it was all because his hot-headed, soft-hearted partner _couldn’t_ wait or let things go.

And, oh. Of course Amane being there was no help. Ryou himself had almost had a heart attack when he heard throughout the grapevine Amane had challenged, _beaten up,_ a Tenryuubito.

And that was before he even saw the news of Bakura’s planned execution.

Talking about Amane, he thinks and looks over his shoulder for a second, free arm holding broad shoulders close to his body. He mouths a _thank-you_ to whoever’s listening up there when he catches sight of Haruta’s thunderous but solemn expression just a few feet behind them, a still-unconscious Amane dropped over his shoulder.

“Stop pulling heroic shit when I’m not around to talk you out of it,” Ryou bellows, hand coated with Haki never loosening its grip on the handle attached to the special wire pulling them onwards. “Or at least take reinforcements with you other than storming there on your own!”

“It was supposed to be a rescue mission,” Bakura’s protest has little effect when Ryou has under his belt a lifetime and a half of handling his complaints, and buried under all the noise of the fight around them as it is. “The others would arrive before anything went south. Get in, free the slaves, then out! Gone before anyone noticed!”

“And did you leave before the Marines arrived?!” Ryou hisses loudly, almost hysterically. “No! Why? _Because that’s basically Mariejois!_ There are always Marines somewhere in Sabaody!”

“What did you expect?” Bakura says vehemently, “Amane was there, too!”

Ryou has to bite his tongue harshly at that. No matter how much he wants to yell at Bakura for being so reckless, he would have done the same with not a hint of hesitation had he been on his place.

That doesn’t mean he has to like it.

Ryou maneuvers them around Izou’s bullets, him and Thatch fighting back to back, and whistles in code to let them know they got Bakura and Amane out safely. He kicks a marine on the face, and if his boot has a little too much Haki, nobody can blame him after all the stress he’s been through the last week.

He’s pretty sure Bakura stabs someone at some point, or maybe Haruta lets out some of his own pent-up rage, because there are agonizing screams where they pass by at least twice.

Ryou lets go of the wire when they get to the ship, far out of reach of Aokiji’s ice and the fight. Bakura’s feet land with a tud a second before his own do, Haruta not far behind. They weave their way through the crew though they don’t stop even as Commander Ace barks orders to the rest of the Second Division. The navigator is already veering the ship in retreat by the time Ryou tugs Bakura below deck. Amane’s in good hands; Haruta stormed towards the infirmary as soon as he set foot on deck.

Haruta will take good care of Amane, he knows.

Ryou let’s go of his partner’s hand to turn around and gather his bearings. He feels too much and too little, all and none at once.

He can’t look at Bakura. He can’t look at him, because he’s _angry_ and he’s still _so worried,_ stomach churning and hummingbird heartbeat hammering his ribcage, and he knows he will say things that he won’t regret but could be worded better when he’s not on the edge of a breakdown.

Ryou has never hated being an angry crier more than at that very moment, when he’s been running only on adrenaline and no sleep for the last few days, and the implications of how both of his most important and precious people in the whole world almost got themselves killed are catching up to him.

He is petrified with only considering what would have happened if they hadn’t gotten there in time.

The only reason he doesn’t jump out of his skin when arms circle his waist is because he finds himself utterly dumbfounded, nonplussed with the sudden lack of goal now that he has what he had gone looking for.

Bakura hugs him from behind, tugging his arms down gently. Ryou hadn’t even realized he’s been pressing hard on his eyelids with the heel of his hands to stop the tears from forming.

He lets himself be held, hanging onto Bakura’s arm with a hand while the other takes its place pressing down on both eyes. Ryou takes a deep, quivering breath, and bites his lip before letting it go through his nose. He repeats the process until he’s calmed down enough that he’s not gritting his teeth, giving his temples a break from the soon-to-be formed headache.

“You didn’t see her face Ryou,” Bakura whispers after a while, breaking the silence. “She was terrified when Kuma started booping her friends.”

Ryou’s face falls and his stomach sinks. Of course he knows that. What he wouldn’t do for Amane, to keep her from the fear and uncertainty of her nakama’s fate, to being able to explain what was happening before it actually did.

“That’s why Kuma was there for,” he tells him with a sigh. “To get them out of there.”

Silence falls again, but it’s not as heavy.

“I am really mad, Bakura,” he tells him honestly, voice firm even when small. All he can see in front of him is the overlapping images of Bakura on his knees chained to that platform, and standing in front of him, taking the final strike right before the Millennium Items fall into oblivion.

Bakura lets out a breath, forehead resting on the tender spot of Ryou’s shoulder blade, where it meets neck.

“I really fucked up this time, huh?” Bakura says with a little self-deprecating chuckle.

Something in Ryou snaps like a rubber band. He turns on his heels to look at his partner, just in time to see the way Bakura’s face twitches a little.

That won’t do.

“Listen to me, Bakura,” Ryou says, holding him in place with a hand on his nape. “I am more than mad. I am _furious_.” Bakura tries to look away, but he holds his chin in place. His other half is stronger than Ryou and he could easily pull away if he so wanted to, but he won’t because he’s hurting and feeling guilty. Ryou searches his gaze. “No, _listen._ I am so furious– but not at you.”

Bakura’s eyes are so vulnerable under the dimmed lighting of the empty hallway, his slouched stance screaming helpless, and it’s all so very _wrong._ Ryou wants to scoop him close, hide him under their covers and protect him from the world. He wants to hug him and kiss him and tell him to never do anything so stupid ever again because he won’t survive if anything happens to him _again_ _oh sea he can’t lose him again–_ but first he has to tell him this, to let him know.

“Bakura,” he takes a breath, licks his lips. He’s so tired. “Do you know how I felt, when I heard about Amane and then read about your execution on the paper?” Ryou doesn’t let him answer. “I felt so powerless. All I could think was, _I won’t make it on time._ I thought–”

Ryou clears his throat when his voice breaks, Bakura’s eyes starting to look shiny. “I thought I was going to lose you both again. I almost had a panic attack because I didn’t know where to go first. It was such a relief to hear from Haruta and the others, how they had started moving too, because I was just leaving Water 7 when I got news of your capture, and then Amane was on a different route to get to you, and–”

Ryou chokes back a sob. Bakura is tightening his lips, brow furrowed in concern. His eyes are bright with sentiment and his arms have found their way back around Ryou’s waist, holding him and holding on as if afraid he would disappear, unaware of how Ryou’s very being is doing the same, hanging off his every movement, his every breath, mind blaring _alive alive alive and safe,_ holding onto him like a lifeline.

“I am angry because any of you could have died. You could have died and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything,” Ryou tells him in a whisper that seems too loud in the empty hall. “Bakura… you and Amane are my world. You are my everything. I don’t think I can survive losing you again.”

_Not this lifetime too, he can’t he can’t he can’t—_

That is everything he’s been bottling up since he got the news, and now that the adrenaline has worn off he’s barely standing. His knees are weak and his hands are shaking and he’s exhausted.

Bakura’s eyes are watery. They’ve slowly worked on unlearning almost all the toxic beliefs Bakura had about himself, ingrained from his very first lifetime and enforced by the one they couldn’t fully live together, and if his tears are contained by sheer force of will is just because Ryou’s own are running freely down his cheeks. One of them has to be a little bit more stubborn than the other.

He leans forward into the hug he’s wanted so much ever since this all began, and Bakura catches him readily, as eager for the contact as Ryou himself.

“I love you,” Bakura whispers reverently, and holds him tight. “I’m sorry.”

“I love you.” Ryou tells him back, nuzzling in his neck, knowing he’s being genuine. He tightens his grip around Bakura’s middle.

This may not be the _welcome home_ either of them had been expecting when they went out to their respective missions, but it’s as heartfelt and honest as all the ones they’ve had before, and that’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> some background/context:  
> \- Amane and Ryou are twins. She’s a badass pirate captain, but she’ll always be their baby in tender’s eyes. They’re all around Ace’s age. 
> 
> \- Ryou is friends with a lot of Revolutionaries; he’s even been offered a position in the Army, but he’s too loyal to Pops to leave their family. Instead, he sometimes works along with them as long as it doesn’t interfere with his duties on the ship. He’s still flattered.
> 
> \- Even though the Second Division is more of an offensive defense that works hand in hand with the First Division, after a lot of heated debate and convincing arguments they managed to compromise in one thing: Ace was to come (of course) but he wouldn’t expose himself—he’ll be the getaway. 
> 
> \- Bakura, while an important capture worth of a public execution, was just the bait for both Ace’s capture and luring Shirohige. Had the Marines managed to pull it through, next to a massacre, it would have become a triple execution.
> 
> \- As you can see, Thatch is alive. That’s also thanks to Bakura; he was with him when Teach ambushed Thatch, and, as the ones who know Bakura’s story can assume, he hates backstabbing rats. Thatch barely made it out of it alive, he had already been stabbed, but not as deeply as it was in canon because Bakura intervened. He called backup through the mental bond he shares with Ryou. While they helped Thatch, Bakura managed to snatch the yami yami no mi [ _war flashbacks_ ] and ate it before Teach did. He killed Teach in self defense.
> 
> \- AGAIN: NOBODY DIES!!!! A lot are hurt, but everyone is Alive, if a little maimed. Yes, even Pops.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed. Please leave feedback!


End file.
